Mallorie Nasrallah Photography

Commissioned For Print :)

2012-02-09T11:46:00.002-06:00

Some people photography.
Model: Madison Montag

"compact macro" is not macro

2011-12-02T22:40:00.006-06:00

Basic lesson for today canon's "compact maco" while being a cute little fixed lens is NOT a true 1:1 macro. Years ago I let Canon fool me an purchased a compact macro.
Its been a very nice little non macro lens since then, but there are times when I want nothing more than to take an actual macro image.

About a week ago I ordered 3 extension tubes from China for a total of $8 (I really hope they were not made in prison camps).
This order was to assist me in making a decision about whether or not I could handle the near microscopic MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro lens. Its an insane lens. There are no others like it. And I wanted it (one can always turn a broken lens backward to achieve a similar effect but not like this lens).

The thing about getting that close is that any motion at all, even someone walking in the room next to the one youre in can cause you to lose your focus.

The same goes for my massive stack of extension tubes, Oh and there is no auto focus /focus assist.

With that said heres some fooling around in my kitchen from tonight...these images are not cropped down.

The bug is a gnat being eaten by a sundew.

These drops are therefore slightly smaller than a gnat's head. and my DOF is therefore also slightly "smaller" than a gnat's head.
the Plant is called Eater, aka Drosera Capensis, aka cape sundew

Las Vegas, First Friday!

2011-10-04T22:21:00.001-05:00

I know there has been a distinct lack of photographic updates lately but I assure you I have good reason.

That good reason is: ART EXHIBITION!

Aqua Incognita

2011-08-28T02:20:00.008-05:00

The rest of the solar system to come (possibly even more) :D Please everyone feel ...free to share these around, just keep the watermark on them :)
These images are created though a refraction process.

A quick explanation:
When a round clear object (in this case a drop of water) is placed exactly between an image and the viewer, a much smaller rounded image will appear inside the clear round object.
So based on the size of the image of the planet I used (placed behind the waterdrop) and the angle of my lens, we end up with a depiction of the planet in question refracted into the waterdrop.

Light must be frontal or slightly to the side, unfortunately backlighting these is not much of an option.
If light is not hitting the image in the background, no image will be captured in the drop. So first we expose for the reflective water, and then consider the amount of light on the background image.

And of course, really first we need the amazing image Nasa provides us with. So make sure to show some support to the JWT.

For Prints http://www.mallorienasrallah.com/prints.html

New Gizmos

2011-07-29T14:34:00.005-05:00

So I got a new gadget in the mail, it allows me to move my speedlite, which up until now I have not been able to do.
I am very happy with the results :D

Oh also, that^ is two water drops colliding in mid air, which i think is pretty cool.

And this looks strangely like Jupiter being sucked in to a blackhole, or maybe I'm crazy.

For Prints contact me at Prints@MallorieNasrallah.com

Not as cool as the Sombrero Nebula...

2011-07-20T00:03:00.004-05:00

But since when did nebulae get to have all the sombrero fun?

For Prints contact me at Prints@MallorieNasrallah.com

Whoosh!

2011-03-16T22:16:00.007-05:00

The logical conclusion of burning all these bulbs.
Suffice it to say, it was very bright.

Click for a wallpaper version
For Prints contact me at Prints@MallorieNasrallah.com

Oh and a video of one burning off:

Whoosh!

Pop Art

2011-03-16T16:29:00.003-05:00

This is basically stop motion photography, though the quick and dirty version. Anyone with a flash, a camera, and a knife can get these sorts of shots (oh and i suppose a balloon and running water...and cat like reflexes or a sound trigger).

The idea here is not, as most would assume, fast shutter speed. Infact I will venture so far as to say shutter speed hardly matters at all. What matters here is the duration of your flash. Basically how long is it giving off light? Most are somewhere around 1/1000th of a second, though some go as long as 1/300th of a second (which wont work here) to 1/3200th of a second.
Why does this work? Because no matter how long you expose the image for (assuming the room is dark) the camera is only taking in light for the instant that the flash has fired, therefore the only real data it can record, is in that 1/1000th of a second.
The images you see here are of what was happening in the instant of flash fire, despite the fact that the shutter was open for much longer.

What would happen if you got all crazy excited and thought "fuck yeah, I'm going to use fast flash AND high shutter speed" ?
Terrible ugly things, thats what. A camera will only sync with a flash at certain speeds, usually between 200 and 250. If you set it higher and attempt to use the flash you will see a large black bar (or wholly black image) where the camera and the flash were out of sync.

Moral of the story, use your flash, be it on camera or off. We dont need crazy shutter speeds, just a flash with a short duration.

I Gave My Love A Cherry

2011-03-05T16:57:00.006-06:00

For Prints contact me at Prints@MallorieNasrallah.com
Working on more chemical reactions, but I got an exceptionally nice filament burn, so im posting that.

I've been asked how this is done, with previous filament burns I have taken two copper wires, and taped them to the contacts, then allowed an ice water dip to fall on the lit bulb, eventually the bulb gets hot enough to crack or shatter. Then I snap the shot.
Unfortunately this method is more prone to crack the bulb than shatter it, so the smoke has nowhere to go, and the filament burns off in a less than spectacular way. Makes for cool photos but I wanted a quick flash burn for this one.
So here I broke the bulb in advance, wired it up and got my remote trigger ready. I placed the wired up power cord 1/4th of the way in to the outlet and did a count down.
as soon as the bulb gets electricity the filament will burn off, its getting a lot of oxygen here, so you only get one shot.
I am using two studio strobes to light the bulb and the smoke, and their recycle time is slightly above a second, so by time they are ready to go again, the show is over.
If you want to try this, have your settings already in the camera, and remember the light the bulb gives off is effected by shutter speed and your stobes are not!
You dont need stobes to catch the burn, it is after all giving off its own light, but it will drastically change the lighting in the image and I simply find it more compelling with this dynamic lighting.
the light set up here is one 300 strobe set to 1/2 power with a soft box to the left of the bulb, and one strobe fitted with a snoot far far far behind and lightly to the left of the bulb set to 1/4th power. The behind strobe is the most important, its going to really show off that smoke!

That pretty much covers it. Once you get the timing and the settings right its no harder than shooting anything else. :)

Its An Apothecary Up in Here

2011-03-03T01:08:00.004-06:00

For Prints contact me at Prints@MallorieNasrallah.com

Chemical fog in a broken light bulb. Fairly straight forward. Was awesome to make so heres a video, with some Leonard Cohen:

Not even trying to be art

2011-03-02T15:51:00.002-06:00

This isnt even trying to be art, its just fun.
Then again when people start popping water balloons, I dont think the first thought that comes to most people's minds is "art".
Ideally one would use a sound trigger to sync the photo with the explosion, I do not have a sound trigger and was in no mood to make one. So this is just a result of my cat like reflexes.

Not even trying to be art, just awesome fun:
I've got some ideas to make it more artsy and less Discovery channel, but for now, fun is good enough for me :D

2011-02-20T10:30:00.003-06:00

Some people insisted that they wanted to see the actual filament burning off with the introduction of oxygen. So here is that. Achieved with an ice water drip positioned above my bulb. Base is visible because I made the contacts :D

Dont much like the shot, but its too good gather dust on a hard drive.

For Prints contact me at Prints@MallorieNasrallah.com

This Really happened....Really

2011-02-05T03:25:00.005-06:00

I wont say there is no photoshop here, but what youre seeing is real, and I think thats pretty cool :)

For Prints contact me at Prints@MallorieNasrallah.com

Click it...it gets bigger and much much cooler.

My House Smells Like Pink Floyd

2011-02-03T21:53:00.003-06:00

Incense are fantastic for smoke, but my house smells of Hippie now.
For Prints contact me at Prints@MallorieNasrallah.com

2011-01-28T16:23:00.004-06:00

Water with a speedlite is much better I have discovered :D

Drip Drip Drip Goes The Water

2011-01-19T13:04:00.001-06:00

Drip Drip Drip Goes The Water

Portrait Of A Thingy I Found In My Yard

2011-01-19T12:50:00.004-06:00

I found this thingy in my yard. :)

Good Bye Texas

2010-10-07T23:39:00.004-05:00

Left the midwest forever today, wish I could say I was sad. Texas was however very nice.

One of my last views of Texas Before the sun went down:

I have moved to Southern California, and I am shooting. With any luck I'm shooting shit tons.

2010-08-03T15:45:00.001-05:00

DONE :D

Building a TARDIS!

2010-07-23T09:14:00.000-05:00

Ok so no photography at the moment, but I am building what one day may be the best prop ever.

I am building a Tardis. For those of you who don't know a Tardis is the "space ship / time machine" that The Doctor uses in the TV program Doctor Who, I am a huge fan, and I having been smacked bu inspiration decided that building one would be a good idea.

Photo documentation has been made:

2010-07-16T06:57:00.000-05:00

Driving to west Texas tonight, hope to find some awesome landscapes, being that I am not very good at making the best out of an ok landscape my hopes are not all that high, but I will be nice either way.

2010-07-03T00:08:00.000-05:00

Shot with the lovely Whitney again (Mayhem #1253907 ) Again. Studio shots went so much more smoothly than the outdoor ones. Lots of work went in to this one and I'm pleased as pie, again Whitney pulled out all the stops and did a great job.

and the cigar damn near choked us both to death.

2010-06-09T14:03:00.000-05:00

Got a computer virus. The first I've ever gotten, and I got it looking for historical maps of a battle.

of all the things...maps gave me a virus.

cleaned it off but lost a few things, mostly my confidence and trust of google searches. As far as I can tell all my photos are intact.

just glad I built the computer myself, thus could fix it. Word of advice to anyone out there: make your own computers or have someone make one for you, store bought computers do not even come with the software necessary to fix them yourself. its awful.

2010-06-07T11:45:00.000-05:00

First shoot since I moved to Oklahoma, a lovely girl by the name of Whitney. (Mayhem #1253907 ) It was 115 degrees out and she was a real trooper, unfortunately my power supply for my lights did not hold out so well. I honestly thought I was going to fall flat on my face from pure thirst. All the same got some great shots.

2010-02-07T21:41:00.000-06:00

A little pod on a swamp / lake thing with a bit of sky reflecting on it, In Ft. benning GA.

2009-12-10T18:36:00.000-06:00

just another day of stuff for Dutch, some of it was pretty.

2009-11-20T20:51:00.000-06:00

more chairs for dutch...

2009-11-17T22:17:00.000-06:00

Justine List for Forma Revivo LLC.
Great gal, Offered to let me have thanksgiving dinner with her :)

2009-11-14T16:46:00.000-06:00

New Camera: 5D, super fucking excited, couldn't wait for a real shoot so I ran outside to take photos of flowers.